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When twenty-four-year-old Omar Itani decided to clear out his wardrobe, the idea of throwing his old clothes away didn’t occur to him. Instead, he looked for second-hand clothing stores to recycle them. But he didn’t find any.

Cities around the world are the “main cause of climate change” but can also offer a part of the solution to reducing the harmful greenhouses gases that are causing global temperatures to rise according to UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif.

Ms. Sharif will be joining world leaders at United Nations headquarters in New York next week at the Climate Action Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

There are five key United Nations summits taking place next week to spur action on the climate crisis and other global concerns, which will showcase the UN as a “driver for meaningful, positive change”, according to the man at the helm of the Organization.

The number of international migrants globally reached an estimated 272 million in 2019, an increase of 51 million since 2010. Currently, international migrants comprise 3.5 per cent of the global population, compared to 2.8 per cent in the year 2000, according to new estimates released by the United Nations today.
 

The new President of the 74th session of the General Assembly brings to his role “years of United Nations experience”, the UN chief said on Tuesday, as Tijjani Muhammad-Bande banged the gavel to open his year in office.

“He also brings valuable insights into some of the pressing peace and security, human rights and sustainable development challenges facing this body, from the spread of violent extremism to the threat of the global climate crisis”, Secretary-General António Guterres said of Nigeria’s former UN Representative.

The growing number of international migrants has now reached 272 million, outpacing the growth rate of the world’s population, according to new data from the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), released on Tuesday.

The figures reflect a jump from 2010, when the global number was at 221 million, and currently international migrants – defined as anyone who changes their “country of usual residence” – make up 3.5 per cent of the global population, compared to 2.8 per cent in the year 2000, according to the latest figures.

It’s that time again, when the eyes of the world turn to New York, as world leaders fly into the city to take part in the General Debate that marks the opening of the latest session of the UN General Assembly, or UNGA.

1 Climate Action

Alongside the customary speeches from heads of state, five important high-level summits and meetings will be taking place, covering many of the key issues facing today’s world.

Through consultation, collaboration and consensus, the UN chief on Monday described outgoing President of the General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa, as “a champion for multilateralism” who had succeeded in making the United Nations “relevant to all”.

In a fast-changing world, Secretary-General António Guterres noted that humanity’s most pressing issues “are increasingly interlinked”.

Progress on equal access to a healthy life for all, is at a standstill across Europe, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed on Tuesday, despite their being a clear path to close gaps in national care.

While peacekeeping is an “essential tool” for preventing conflict and reducing the risk of relapse, “political solutions are a prerequisite to sustainable peace”, the United Nations peacekeeping chief told the Security Council on Monday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative 18 months ago, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, reminded the chamber, noting A4P calls on all participants to “collectively address peacekeeping challenges”.